How to Prepare Sharing Your Work at an Academic Conference: MALAS's Carson Poole on her AGLSP 2021 Conference Experience

by Carson Poole 

2nd Year MALAS Graduate Student, SDSU

As the deadline for 2022’s AGLSP Conference, Biblio-TECHa is now open, I was asked to reflect on my experience at 2021’s (virtual) conference. The theme of last year’s conference was “Unmute Yourself: Voice, Representation, and Power”. 

I believe I was the only student from SDSU in attendance, with Dr. Nericcio acting as my panel’s moderator. The topics addressed in the panels were diverse, entertaining, and very well thought out. Since it was a Liberal Studies conference, the topics for presentations were across the map: several people presented on music analysis or music history, others presented on business theory, and some presentations were on literature. 

My experience was really smooth and stress-free for being my first time presenting at a conference. I recorded my material and had a live (Zoom) Q&A with other panelists after my video was played. The Q&A made me nervous initially, because I wasn’t sure if anyone would ask me an “over my head” kind of question, but the other panelists were very kind, respectful, and open to discussion. 

Over the course of the three-day conference, I learned a lot about topics well outside of my own expertise, which made my academic-nerd heart sing. The panels transitioned smoothly, with breaks in between. Everything ran without any major hitches, save for a few accidentally muted mics. The challenges of a Zoom conference are very different than an in-person one, so I can’t give much in the way of advice on public speaking in front of other people in a conference hall, but if you are confident in your material then the speaking part will come easier. 

Carson Poole at Balboa Park, San Diego

As far as my preparation for the conference, I had already entered into my application with a clear topic idea. I had prepared a rough abstract beforehand and tidied it up before submitting it. The abstract was honestly the hardest part of my application—summing up my work in such a limited space was a challenge. As this conference was virtual, I had to record my material in a 15-minute video, which was nice because I could make multiple takes and revise as I went. 

For an in-person conference like this year’s will be, I think recording it beforehand might be something worth doing as it helps to fine-tune the content of the speech. If you’re thinking of applying, go for it! The experience was a very rewarding one for me and I think it would be the same for you.

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar with Professor Andrés Aguilar! Community Activism Through Arts Practice!

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar with Professor Andres Aguilar! 

Community Activism Through Arts Practice! 

More info here: https://sunspot.sdsu.edu/schedule/sectiondetails?scheduleNumber=22285&period=20222&admin_unit=R

click to enlarge

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar! MEDIA AND CONFLICT with Professor Gilad Halpern!

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar! MEDIA AND CONFLICT!!!

More info here!

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar: Parábolas ópticas / Optical Parables : Latin American/Latinx Literature, Art, Photography, & Cinema with Professor Bill Nericcio

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar: Parábolas ópticas / Optical Parables : Latin American/Latinx Literature, Art, Photography, & Cinema with Professor Bill Nericcio 

Note that the course can be taken in three "flavors" depending on what program you are with (or your curricular needs) at SDSU:

MALAS-600A

 

 

01

 

39125

 

LATINX/LATINAM CULTURES

  

0930-1045

 

TTH

 

NE-271

C LT-594

 

 

01

 

20640

 

LATINX/LATINAM CULTURES

  

0930-1045

 

TTH

 

NE-271

LATAM-580

 

 

02

 

39155

 

LATINX/LATINAM CULTURES

  

0930-1045

 

TTH

 

NE-271

Comparative Literature 594 | MALAS 600A | LATAM 580   

Parábolas ópticas | Optical Parables    

Latin American and Latinx Lit, Art, Photography & Cinema  

9:30am to-10:45 T/TH | NE-271  Professor William Nericcio

This is a Comparative Literature class, a MALAS seminar, and a Latin American Studies class, but it should appeal to any and all folks who are curious about the literatures and cultures of the Americas working their magic both north and south of the U.S./Mexico border).

The title of the class comes from a 1931 photograph by Manuel Álvarez Bravo entitled “Optical Parable/[Parábola Opticas]” – you can see a facsimile of it here opposite (and a self portrait of Bravo below). The photo can be read as a deep semiotic meditation on the nature of visual representation; but it can also be read as a joke, a bit, a gag – a photo of an optometrists shop printed in reverse (literally, a sight gag).      

This dialectic between the deeply intellectual and the comedic will run through our class as we probe texts that are literary, photographic, painted, filmed, streaming, and more.   

No expertise in Latin American or Latinx (Chicana/o/x, Boriqua/o/x, etc) literature or culture is expected or presumed nor should anyone worry if they’ve never studied film, photography, graphic narrative, or art at the collegiate level. The only requirement or prerequisite for this class is curiosity and a little drop of imagination!     

The final lineup of works is still a little in flux. Readings / Screenings / Art include works by Alfonso Cuarón (y tu Mamá tambien), Myriam Gurba (pictured below), Hector Ortega, Gabriel García Márquez, Flor Garduño, Junot Diaz, Cristina Rivera Garza, Raoul Peck, Gilbert Hernandez, Tina Modotti, Orson Welles (!), Alex Espinoza, yours truly, Salvador Plascencia, and other surprises!

New MALAS Seminar Spring 2022 -- Meso American Ceramics with Carlos Figueroa-Beltran

MALAS 600 MESOAMERICAN CERAMICS

Carlos Figueroa-Beltran 

MALAS 600C/LATAM 580 

MESOAMERICAN CERAMICS  is a course that explores the cross-section of art, archaeology, and ethnohistory through the study of the ceramics of Mesoamerica, a vast territory that spanned from Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico to El Salvador.

This course examines the iconography, context, and function of the visual arts of the Mesoamerican world, with the idea of developing works of art inspired by the Mesoamerican civilizations from pre-contact times to the present. 

Through this study, we hope to inspire a new work of art for the campus, created by students from both Latin American Studies and the Ceramics Area in the School of Art and Design, discussing issues of appropriation and representation as we explore ancient works as inspiration for a contemporary work of art.

 

My name is Carlos Figueroa-Beltran. I work at the Center for Latin American Studies as a lecturer and graduate advisor. My academic background varies from archaeology, anthropology, ethnohistory, intercultural studies, and environmental sciences. As an archaeologist, I have excavated several sites in Mesoamerica, such as Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan (the ancient capital of the Aztec empire).